


Making a Companion

by FannishMinded



Series: Late Night Tumblr fics [8]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: BAMF Rose, Bad Wolf, Episode: s04e09 Forest of the Dead, Fix It Fic, Gen, River Song Appreciation Day, River Song is a BAMF, everything is connected, old fic, stand alone fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-10 00:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3269954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FannishMinded/pseuds/FannishMinded
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because the story is never quite over. When you have run with the Doctor- as<br/>long as there is any chance, any possibility- things can and will change.</p><p>You just have to make them.</p><p>" We all know stories of him, and, if you are <em>any</em> example… all the very best ones? Are really true. Don’t make us turn this into one of the tragic ones. Let us go.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making a Companion

Because the story is never quite over. When you have run with the Doctor- as  
long as there is any chance, any possibility- things can and will change.

You just have to make them.

 

* * * *

River knew there was no real sleep in this world, except when she willed it. For all their sakes, she willed it quite often. She herself could not fully rest- to keep the system running smoothly, a primary consciousness was required. And with their situation as it was- River had to keep on top of it far more than the Moon program could handle.

It was a terrible burden, to know the limits of their world intimately; to be trapped in a mental cage that was so limited and cramped. To feel it’s limits pressing like iron bands against you whenever you tried to move in a way you know you should be able to move- but suddenly can’t.

It was the one and only prison she could not escape, and in a way, it was the one adventure neither she or her beloved had ever really had a chance to share. A run of linear time, raising a family, for potentially longer than her entire life prior to being uploaded.

And now, they probably never would share linear time. Not that she’d held delusions- oh what was the point in lying to herself- yes, yes she had held delusions of running together for decades longer than they had. Skipping through time, and maybe going linear on a lark for a few months. It was silly- and it was foolish, and for that brief decade she knew her Sweetie- what adventures they’d had. She was starting to forget many of them.

Actually she was consciously reliving them, and then deleting them, one at a time.

All this computing power could barely keep up with her mind. A time-lord consciousness, no matter how relatively infantile, was a bit hard for a human made processing block to handle. She knew that what should be enough to last even five thousand human minds for millenia would burn out within the century unless she started paring down.

So she did. Ruthlessly she picked the parts that were not vital to her concept of self, to her intrinsic nature, and she smoothed the process, deleted the file, and freed up another year or ten of survival for them all.

She was many things, but prone to giving up, she never would be.

And as time wore on, River and Charlotte, the children, the Daves, Anita, even Evangelista, her last, her only, **crew** , never shared the secret of her sacrifices to spare them. They never realized that as River smiled more, and settled into a calm contentment, that in reality a century had passed during what to them felt like about 3 weeks. They did notice that while she smiled more, there were periods where she seemed a bit wrung out. Especially at the “two month anniversary”.

That’s when they all found out what River was doing to spare them. It’s when everything changed again.

Evangelista had an inkling of an idea as to how time was so very slowed for them. For all that River had seemingly begun to bloom, she also seemed to shrink and dull before them, every day… Evangelista slowly pieced together a horrible picture.  
She was stupid in life- but death had granted her a mind that was wasted if not used.

The picture it assembled was both absolutely beautiful in it’s bravery and loyalty, and absolutely stupid in it’s execution.

She confronted River when she found River crying softly, and she KNEW this woman, she knew that she was the type that never cried. That those near silent tears were the final flag that something was indeed horribly wrong.

 

The others gathered to listen as they yelled back and forth, two tempers flaring, as River argued to save them- and Evangelista argued to let them go. When it finally came out that the next memories to have to go would be part of what River considered her “core” memories, Evangelista shouted about there always being another way- and River’s answer, hissed back as she snapped, decided the actions of her crew; her cobbled together family.

“You think I don’t know that? _I’m trying to save you!_ Trying to be selfless for someone NOT My Doctor, for a change! If I became the full processes, took over absolutely _**everything**_ , converted myself to pure AI and filled _every_ bank, _every_ process, became the machine in full, I could survive intact for _millenia_! Easily long enough to gather the spare power to reprogram and commandeer Moon Program to create a signal and reach him to come retrieve me… but you ALL would _**DIE**_ , do you not get that? I won’t KILL you, you’re my damn CREW! Why do you think I’ve been erasing… erasing all my truly **happy** moments, all the moments after… after… all the times I know I had… it’s been CENTURIES, I ensured we all lasted for almost THREE MORE CENTURIES by removing all those days, all that time..  
More than half of my life is missing now, and I don’t regret a single moment of it because it saved you all! “

And that’s when they all, even little Charlotte, made a choice. They looked at each other, and they all moved to hold hands. The Daves and Anita had misty eyes, and Charlotte cried in little hitching breaths. The Digital children were silent and stone faced, tagging along behind.

And they stepped into that room, and without a word to the others Charlotte broke off and ran up to a stunned looking River as she tackled her waist in a hug, sobbing and clinging as River awkwardly patted and tried to console her. It seemed to work, the other adults remaining silent as Charlotte stepped back and glared at River before kicking her in the shin. “STUPID! I don’t want you broken because of me!”

River gaped at the fierce scowl on the girl, before she finally looked up at the other adults. They all looked both misty and angry as well. “What she said” Proper Dave said softly, and Anita chimed in “For a professor, you sure are dumb.” and Other Dave just shook his head. “You once told us about how The Doctor was a self sacrificing idiot- well love does make you emulate your beloved, I guess. This is taking it a bit far, though.”

Evangelista set back her veil, despite River’s early tweaking her face was once more imperfect- by Evangelista’s own heated requests. And now she laid her hand on River’s shoulder and softly pleaded. “Please, don’t make us your killers. We want to be let go. We got to live longer than any humans ought to. We all died, but you, you saved us. And you have a legend to save from himself. We all know stories of him, and, if you are _any_ example… all the very best ones? Are really true. Don’t make us turn this into one of the tragic ones. Let us go.”

And as they all firmly repeated it, all but begged to be let go-

River had a new defining memory.

One that replaced all the little trips she knew she should remember.

It was the memory of her crew giving their all to save her, because she gave so much to save them.

It was the memory of Family. Of a crew, of the people you take in, being more than just their parts when they banded together.

And as she made the conversion to pure AI, changed her processes from Timelord to supercomputer, became a Timelord program idling on a bank of servers that filled an entire planet’s terminals. She kept that. She kept the reasons why she had to return to her Sweetie. How he stole her heart- changed her for better.

River changed over many millennia of processing, integrating all the information once stored there- or purging it as needed, of spending decades preparing for the frying of the next specific chips in the moon to create that specific pulsing beacon, broadcasting a Mauve alert on a timeline that was ONLY friendly to a TARDIS view of time. The pulses requiring full access to the vortex to assemble. There was no need for haste- for she could now wait as long as the sun this planet orbited still burned.

And wait she did.

Until the whining groan of a TARDIS landing with the brakes on filled the dust filled tomb that was once the library.

Not a single book remained, River had slowly opened the environment seals in every department, ensuring that the books got all the rain and sun and wind required to decay even the most stubborn of bindings. She had ensured that the Vashta Nerada had all gone long before even half the signal had broadcast.

For no physical creature can survive with neither home nor hope nor nourishment of soul and body for so long. And as creatures of will, it was no contest that River was more willful than any that dared to ever occupy that cursed library.

The Doctor didn’t know all of this, not yet. But as the lights came on one at a time, leading him to the core, the ginger haired man sniffed hard. And while it might be at the dust- his soft murmurings after he descended the platform and saw a blank talking stone, but River’s voice still coming from it, his voice choked with emotion, it was entirely possible that he had a good idea of who he was here for.

“Hello, Sweetie.”

“Oh, my beautiful River, what have you done?”

“Survived, my wonderful Heart Thief.”

“Oh River. Oh, my incredible, impossible girl…”

“We looked into time, and We knew you. It’s been so long, and We are ready to travel with you, finally, again.”

“This, you were supposed to have a happy life- but wait, we?,”

“But I was happiest with you. We are always happiest with you.”

“ _We_?”

“I am a child of the TARDIS, and the BAD WOLF corporation helped build this facility and the moon base. And in it’s programming, in a tight little kernel at it’s core rested a gift, from your TARDIS and your Rose, from their BAD WOLF. For both of us. For all of us.”

“Oh, River… Rose… what have you…”

“We both wanted you safe. We both knew you would be foolish and brave- and Idris gave Sexy the knowledge of how wonderful speaking was. We all want to make sure you are never alone again. So, together, we have ensured you won’t be. With the combined program, simply creating a sound resonating stone, or more likely, taking this one, will mean we are always with you. We have loved you, and will love you, for as long as we can keep you out of too much trouble.”

That last bit, was a blending of Rose and River… he knew that singsonging tone- her tongue would curl around her lips as she grinned- but it was mostly River… it was… “You’ve regenerated, but as a computer! You integrated Rose, and the TARDIS core programming, didn’t you! Why woul-”

“Oh. My _Brilliant_ idiot! You are always so surprised- from our marriage in a time that never was to BAD WOLF, to every companion that has ever been willing to walk an entire planet for you. You are so shocked by our love. For a Doctor, you sure are dumb.”

“Hey!”

“Now get me back home, I miss our travels. Oh, and I don’t care how cool the sound is- I’m taking off the brakes.”

“HEY!”

“Oh, don’t be like that. Besides, with a reprogramming of the holo-emitter and a few tweaks to the mobile chameleon disguise field unit I can probably even run with you outside the TARDIS again…”

**Author's Note:**

> I put one of my favorite OTPs in my OTP. Because the core of River Song is  
> the Will of Rose and the TARDIS combined, that her beloved never be alone.  
> She saw ALL. And she knew how to give him the one companion that would  
> never leave him.
> 
> And so she did.


End file.
